Creative Merchandise

You’ll all be happy to know that we had a brainstorming lunch today where everyone was coming up with ideas for creative merchandise that fans might like. Several years ago, we had the Gagne “Game Over” shirts with the fuzzy goatee and it was that sort of thing that we were seeking.

So, while we had tons of good ideas, hopefully many of which we’ll be able to implement down the road, I thought it was funny that someone threw out the idea of a shirt that said, “My Loney Has a First Name,” and then talked about how you guys had come up with a whole song for it. It remains to be seen if that shirt makes the cut, but if you’ve got interesting ideas on what kind of merchandise you’d buy, we’re all ears.

Beimel had tons of questions from you guys today and I think we answered at least one from everyone who asked, which was a lot of questions. I know that last year there were questions about not answering the “good” questions, so hopefully we got to yours, even if it was a “tough” one.

A nice win last night with Russ out of the lineup. Time to start a streak, if you ask me.

Pierre, LF

Kemp, CF

Kent, 2B

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Young, RF

DeWitt, 3B

Hu, SS

Penny, P

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172 Comments

First comment!! I went off pretty badly on this board the other night about how I’d had it and was sick and tired of this team…. I love this team and always have, through the thick and thin, the good and the bad…. So, now I say…. ENOUGH WITH THE BAD… LET’S WIN A FEW IN A ROW AND KICK SOME ***!! GO DODGERS!!!

So, I am assuming Andre is not playing because Frances is a lefty- He certainly doesn’t need the day off, which was said about the last game of the Mets series. Don’t get me wrong, I am glad that DY is getting another start, but why not sit Pierre – he needs rest too – lol! (sort of laughing). Matt showed everyone last night he could hit lead off, and if I recall, he is pretty fast, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a lead-off guy hit a home run. It will be like old times when Rafael used to lead off.

How much stronger is the lineup with Phew on the bench, Ethier starting, and Kemp batting leadoff. I’ll bet Eric can tell us Phew’s #’s batting leadoff. They aren’t that good. I think his OBP batting leadoff is below .300. Unacceptable!!™

Poor ol’ Juan. Never to get another day off as long as Ferc is hurt. What it must be like, huh? Every day, day in and day out, seeing your name on the lineup card and having to go out there and hit leadoff. Doesn’t matter whether or not you’re doing the job, you’re out there regardless. Must be written into that horrendous contract, Juan starts. Maybe it’s written into some dusty old book that Joe used to get read to him when he was a little baby manager back in Brooklyn.

RULE #1: LEADOFF HITTER – MUST BE SKINNY AS A RAIL WITH NO POWER WHATSOEVER AND BE ABLE TO STEAL THE OCCASIONAL BASE, EVEN IF HE CAN’T READ LEFTIES. HAVING AN ON BASE PERCENTAGE BETTER THAN THE LEAGUE AVERAGE IS NOT REQUIRED.
RULE #2: NO PLAYER OTHER THAN THIS DESCRIPTION IS CAPABLE OF FILLING THIS ROLE.
RULE #3: MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE MEDIA CONTACTS WHO THINK YOU’RE THE SMARTEST GUY IN THE ROOM BECAUSE YOU WON A FEW CHAMPIONSHIPS A FEW YEARS AGO IN THE MEDIA CAPITAL OF THE WORLD WITH THE BEST TEAM THAT MONEY COULD BUY, BUY INTO THIS HOOEY AND BROADCAST IT TO THE UNWASHED MASSES AS GOSPEL.
RULE #4: MAKE SURE THAT ALL SPITOONS ARE CLEANED, WASHED AND DRIED BEFORE THE TEAM GETS ON THE TRAIN FOR THE NEXT SERIES. MUSTACHE WAX MUST BE SCRAPED OFF ALL FLOORS. ALL LEFTOVER BASEBALLS FROM GAMES WHERE SPITBALLERS HAVE PERFORMED MUST BE PUT OUT TO DRY.

Wait, that sounds awfully familiar……….that’s IT! JUST LIKE LAST YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

Joe, in case you have forgotten or just didn’t get the memo; the most important stat for a leadoff hitter is OBP. I don’t give a rats behind if you can run fast or steal bases or not. You’ve got to be on base to score. Duhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

LOL!! LMAO!!! YOU ARE TOO MUCH ERIC! thanks for the info – maybe if you keep posting Pierre’s stats night after night, somebody will eventually see it as the rest of us – pathetic!!
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eric, jhall and MLK – my A’s/Braves buddy next door loves the songs. She teaches Kindergarten so Brown Bear is right up her alley – has never heard it quite like that though – lol! Also, my daughter loves the James Loney song eventhough she is not a Dodger Fan. However, she will sit in a room and cheer on Pierre just to piss me off (she thinks we are mean to him).

You know jhall, I don’t think he’s stupid or necessarily a bad manager or even in Juan’s mom’s pocket. I just think he has tunnel vision when it comes to the leadoff position and can’t imagine anyone other than Ferc or Pierre in that spot. I wonder what he’d do if Pierre pulled his muscle (he has one, you know).

I am soooooo glad Ethier cranked one out last night so that he could sit on the bench tonight. I really hope he gets traded to a team that will use him!! I have never said that before about a Dodger player but I feel for the guy!! Torre should be smacked upside his empty head for what he is doing to him!!
Just my .02!! :-)
Well gotta go my AA Dodgers are in the playoffs tonight.
GO DODGERS!

I almost would be more happy with Adam Dunn as our lead-off over JP.
This year AVG / OB% / Runs
Dunn: .254 / .408 / 31
Pierre: .279 / .347 / 23

Of course, we expect the HR / RBI difference:
Dunn: 15 / 39
Pierre: 0 / 18
Juan may have SBs, but he has no triples (Dunn doesn’t either) and only has 6 doubles to Dunn’s 7.
Even with Furcal out, JP should NOT be our lead-off batter. He should be batting 8th or 9th behind the pitcher.
Martin could easily be our lead-off hitter with his .429 OB%.

It was good to see some changing crooked numbers for a change.
HRs: Kent 6, Furcal 5, DeWitt 5, Loney 5, & Ethier 5
Let’s go Martin & Kemp 4 each.
In the all important RBI DEPT.
Loney 32, Kemp 31, DeWitt 29, Kent 25, Martin 23, Ethier 22 and JP lags behind with 18 most likely because of his lack of power.
Great to see Lowe pitch another 8 inning game, his second. Kuroda has one.
Keep it up tonight and give Penny some support.

Martin, Kemp, and Dewitt are just three guys who could hit leadoff better than JuanP. Since Russell and Kemp are more valuable further down the lineup, pine Pierre, (nice ring to it) insert Ethier, and hit Dewitt in the leadoff spot. He’s definitely got the plate discipline to do it… Soto’s got a big lead in the NL All-Star balloting. Russell’s going to need all our help. An old Chicago political saying is appropriate: vote early, vote often….the Rocks are even more injury depleted than we are. Beat em’ while they’re down…GO DODGERS!!

Why does it figure that the only thing management finds useful (and its strictly from a chance to make a profit) from this blog is the Loney song? Do we not offer great advice on tactics and statistics as well?

I’m blacked out of MLB because the Rocks are considered the “home” team in this area of the west. That means, if I want to enjoy the game, I have to mute the audio portion of the broadcast cause the Rocks broadcasters, with the possible exception of the Friars team, are the worst broadcasters in the NL West. George Frazier extolling the taste sensation of putting mayo on a Dodger Dog is just sick and wrong. One of the best parts of last night’s game was some kid that kept stamping his feet on the roof of the Rockies broadcast booth everytime we got something going. This went on for about an hour. Frazier got so p****ed off, he paid an usher to get the kid to stop

Not a lot. I’m in Rapid City. Did catch some of the game last night though. See JoJo’s still up to his usual (read that as predictable) tendencies. Why is it 90% of the time Andre goes yard, he gets yanked the next day?

Not a lot. I’m in Rapid City. Did catch some of the game last night though. See JoJo’s still up to his usual (read that as predictable) tendencies. Why is it 90% of the time Andre goes yard, he gets yanked the next day?

Welcome back, enchanted!!!
I can see you haven’t lost your touch while away – lol!!
Your fellow creative spirits have been working hard in your absence continuing to bring music and verse to this site. They have done a fabulous job, if you don’t mind me saying. I can also tell you that eric has kept us very well informed of all the statistical data in regards to our beloved Dodgers. :)

Well, I have got to leave for the evening. I have a memory book to finish seeing how tomorrow is my last day of school. I am going to miss this class dearly.
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jhall and eric,
I am honored to be represented in one of your songs. You are both class acts, and for that I am truly thankful.
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MLK – still love the “Brown Bear Song” – too funny!!
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I am hoping for a win tonight (even without Andre). Since it was field day today, I wore his jersey shirt today, but I guess it’s not going to help him so I will go home and put on Russell’s instead.
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Have a great evening everybody, and I will blog you in the morning :)
GO DODGER BLUE!!!!!

enchanted, know the feeling about crappy computers – mine is like that at home. I am getting a laptop in a couple of days, though, so hopefully I will get to blog in the late night hours as well. It’s my last day of school gift to myself for a job well done this year – lol!!

I have not checked in over the last few days for a bunch of reasons, but JOSH–PLEASE MAKE THE “My Loney Has A First Name” Shirts!
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Everyone, please encourage Josh to make these shirts.
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I am pretty sure that my brother (MartinLoneyKemp) and I will make sure to see a couple hundred at least. And we have no interest in compensation–we just want the song spread.
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And here it is:
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My Loney has a first name,
It’s J-A-M-E-S
My Loney has a second name,
It’s L-O-N-E-Y
I love to watch him every day
And if you ask me why I’ll say
‘Cause James Loney has a way
With H-I-T-T-I-N-G!

I guess you forgot that Juan is batting .458 and has an obp .480 against him and Ethier struggling against left hand pitching. Ethier is batting 4/17 and that an average .235. Ethier is 8/43 against LHP so far that an average of .163 obp .250.

If that runner doesn’t score from 3rd on a shallow fly, it changes the whole inning. Penny might have gotten out of it. Regardless of whether Penny gives up the run later or not, the point is they took advantage of Phew’s stinky arm. Phew sucks!!

When We’re up against an average pitcher or better, we don’t have the tools to win. Where’s our hitting coach????????????
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This team needs a lot of work to be contenders. We’re lucky the D’backs are having their problems also.

Man, hopefully this is the maturing year for the young players and next year will be better. Loney and Kemp were supposed to have their full year of occasional struggle and learning under the belt already, but no, Nomar and Gonzalez blocked them all of last year.

But this year, this team just holds no excitement, no potential. no hope of winning. They’re not contenders. They may hope to scrape out a .500 which would have been only good enough for fourth place in a good division, but with the Rockies down the cliff and the Padres following, around .500 may put them second in the NL West, even – but far out of contention indeed.

Yeah crash, I think what we had there was two tempers colliding. Torrealba was still upset and Kemp probably felt like a sucker going after that pitch in the dirt. He didn’t like getting pushed and he for sure didn’t like getting tagged in the stomach. A typical escalation in my old neighborhood. Brothers would have taken up sides and everyone goes home mad! Ah, memories…………

I happen to know for a fact that Kemp and Torrealba are the two most hated players among umpires in MLB. I’m not surprised that when tempers erupted it would be between those two. Kemp’s a great talent, but has a lot to learn as far as keeping his composure.

Yeah, kind of. My best friend was a AAA umpire up until this year. He took a leave for family reasons. He knows all of these guys personally. In fact, I have a picture of him and Loney in each others face during a game in the Dominican. It started a whole episode down there.

There was an incident a few years ago when Torrealba was playing on a Venezuelan team. Torrealba was ejected for one reason or another. After the game he and a bunch of his friend cornered one of the umpires and tried to fight him. Nothing ever came from it, no punches were thrown or anything, but that’s how Torrealba is.

That glare that he gave Wade after that 0 – 2 pitch was stupid. That pitch was the ol’ purpose pitch. Not that close. Like I said earlier, Big D or Gibson or almost any of the old guys would tell him, “Son, if you think that one was close, get ready…”

I give Kemp credit during the post-game interview for admitting he is stupid. Now what is the Dodger management going to do about it? Maybe they need to have Kemp follow Martin around and do what he does. It is a night and day comparison of baseball intelligence and maturity between those two.
If Kemp can ever get his head screwed on right, he could be a great player.

Young showed tonight why he should be playing. An outfield of Young, Kemp, and Ethier would be the most productive, but Torre loves Pierre and love is blind. An objective look at the performance and abilities of the players would produce a different lineup, but Torre is not objective about it and Pierre can’t do anything wrong in his sight. Playing Pierre is not producing results, but Torre refuses to bench him, while he constantly looks for excuses to bench Ethier. I really feel sorry for Andre. He worked so hard and “won” the starting position, only to be treated so unfairly. It’s a real shame and one of the reasons that the Dodgers are not performing up to their potential.

Look..Juan has done well right, in his last 11 games he is hitting .311 with a .400 OBP. He has scored six and driven in 2. Thats pretty darn good for Juan. 3 steals as well. 8 total runs…The dodgers are 3-8. remind me why he HAS to play? even at his best, he really isn’t enough. We need more. 14 games out of our last 25 we have scored 2 runs or less. Maybe not all him, in fact is isn;t, but our offense as we have it, isn’t working. We need more power and there is no chance at any with him, speed is the most overated thing in baseball..i’ll take a guy who can drive the ball anyday, and that guy is young or ethier.

Josh,
I second the sentiments of my brother and co-author leekfink. Please make the “My Loney Has a First Name” T-shirt. We seek only to celebrate the joy that is watching James Loney, and do not seek compensation for The James Loney Song. I have no idea what legal rights Oscar Meyer may have.
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dodgereric,
The song was copyrighted the moment it was first published, which I’m pretty sure was by Lee on this site.

OK, time for some more statistics. I just looked up the totals of the stolen bases by the guy who lead off most of the games for the World Series winner for that year for the past 17 years. It’s not very scientific, perhaps I’ll have more time to do this later. However, I present this in evidence for the time being to support my contention that you DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A SPEED MERCHANT IN THE LEADOFF POSITION TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL SEASON:

Now, these stolen base totals are not what they did as the leadoff hitter exclusively, that’s what I intend to do sometime when I don’t have to get up for work in less than 5 hours. But these totals average to 27.2 stolen bases for the player most often used in the #1 position.

Less than 20, 6 times.
More than 30, 6 times.

Less than 10, 2 times.
More than 40, 2 times.

Do we have a direct relationship of Speed At Leadoff/World Series Champ? I don’t believe so. Are we successful with Juan Pierre and His Fabulous Feet at leadoff? I don’t think so.

One more thing shad. “You have to have his speed in there regardless what the outcome is.” What the heck does that mean? Regardless of the outcome?

“We’re going to run off tackle again.”
“But coach, we’ve run that play 32 times today and we’ve gained 6 yards.”
“Doesn’t matter. Winning teams run the football.”
“It’s 4th and 28, 4th quarter, we’re down by 6 and we’re on our own 6.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re running off tackle regardless of the outcome.”

“We’re going down there, regardless of the outcome. Got it?”
“Right, General Custer.”

Good morning shad. “There is no why he just have too.” “It mean wins or losses.” After all the time I spent accumulating evidence that stolen bases at the top of the lineup doesn’t necessarily translate to…….aw, ferget it.

mlk, thanks for that link. You’re right, it might change a bit today, unfortunately. Speaking as someone who has fought temper problems his whole life, I hope that people don’t overreact to last night. It was two guys getting together in the heat of a game situation and both were frustrated for different reasons. Kemp handled the situation very well afterwards. I liked what I saw last night as Loney and Martin were the first to dive into the pile, helping their teammate.

I also agree with what lukemccain wrote last night. He could do much worse than follow Russell Martin around. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it. The Dodgers need to put a “C” on his uniform. It’s unusual for baseball, but certainly not unheard of. Wasn’t PeeWee Reese a captain? Wasn’t Maury Wills? It’s a great tradition in hockey and it should translate well to baseball. He’s perfect for it.

Good Morning,
Another very early morning I see (eric, do you ever sleep?) Boy, interesting game last night. BTW – Fuentes is a local boy – my Dad knows his family really well. Brian’s dad used to be a police officer in town. My sister knew Brian pretty well because they went to high school together. They are a very nice family.
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Josh,
You have a class of 20 first graders, plus their teacher in Central California (Giant’s country) that would love to see MLK and Leefink’s “My Loney has a First Name” on a t-shirt. :)
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Hey eric – do you have any stats on how many games that have been won with Ethier out of the game? It seems, at least recently, when he is benched, the team has always lost.
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I am not sure what this is about Pierre needing to play because of his speed, but his speed certainly didn’t help him last night getting picked off twice. Great hits, but you need to stay on the bases to score – duhhhh!! I feel like I am so against Pierre, but that’s not really the case. I am just very for Andre playing and not getting screwed and using reasons like “he can’t hit lefties or we need Pierre because of lead off.” Andre’s overall stats are telling us that the guy can hit – period. I understand Pierre is playing like Pierre, but overall, Andre is playing better than Pierre and that is where the frustration lies. Andre never lost his job, it was just given to Pierre with no reason why. And as far as his stats against lefties (who cares). Since he seems to get benched every time a lefty is pitching, his sample has to be pretty small, and I know for a fact that one of his five home runs was hit off a lefty (Saunders) at Angel Stadium (I was there), and he was only one of two lefties that have hit home runs off of him up until then. Also, it’s not like anybody else hit well off Francis last night either (ethier? – lol). DY should be playing for Pierre, not Ethier. UGGGGGG!!! This topic really frustrates me, and I couldn’t get on my computer last night so now I am even more worked up about it.
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Josh,
You have a class of 20 first graders, plus their teacher in Central California (Giant’s country) that would love to see MLK and Leefink’s “My Loney has a First Name” on a t-shirt. :) yes, I am saying it twice!!! We want this shirt made!!!
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I was working on several songs last night, but didn’t finish any of them. The fun thing was working on more than one at a time. Well, starting tomorrow, I will have two months of song writing – watch out!! – lol!!

Thanks eric!! Furcal is definitely missed.
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As far as sleep I am good with about 4-5 hours, too. I just couldn’t get onto my computer (it is on it’s last legs, I think) so I was reading all the comments thru my phone which has internet, and I was wanting to speak up on Andre’s behalf for those that think Pierre should be playing because of speed alone. Thanks for speaking up on that topic – :)

Okay, I am bragging again. I got another Dodger gift!! This time I got a hand made door hanger that is a Dodger Bear with the inscription “I’m Dodgers Blue Thru and Thru.” So cute – I am still a girl – lol!! This can hang on the outside of my door so the whole school will know the Dodger Blue is the only way to go – lol!! My custodian who is a Giants fan will really appreciate it – lol!!! :)

Anxious to see how Clayton rebounds from his last game.
As far as Kemp goes, I hope it’s only a 1 game suspension, but it will more likely be three. I expect that Pierre will be playing CF, with DY in Kemp’s place in the OF. In the meantime, we need to win this game today. Cook can be tough on the mound, but we can’t have any excuses.

It ends with this quote from the kid: “It’s not tough, because when they’re trying to take care of you, you really can’t argue with that,” Kershaw said. “That’s their decision and they probably know what’s best.”

Yeah, you’d think so. But I’m sure Clayton has an agent and this agent would be well-advised to not make that assumption. I thought, if I were him, I’m not, but if I were, I’d be looking up someone like ol’ Mike Marshall (the Cy Young Award winner, not the outfielder) and get his advice.

I’m with you Eric. I can’t figure why (I know from last night there is no why, it just is, LOL) they don’t listen to Dr Marshal. What he did as a pitcher was amazing. Something like 104 appearances one year. And his arm was always healthy and ready. I’d be giving him a call if I was Kershaw and the Dodgers.

Dnel, Jhall, Enchanted, and Eric, you guys amaze me with your creativity. You are all very talented and entertaining. It helps to read your songs because it helps me maintain my sanity about this team.

Pierre getting picked off last night in the 1st inning was huge! We have a struggling pitcher and we run ourselves out of an inning, who knows if we score there Francis maybe does not get the confidence to shut the Dodgers down! I know this is all speculative, but…who knows?

Anyway Kershaw hopefully will be over his excitement and can settle down and throw strikes! Lets get on a roll…DY has started 2 of 3 can we make it 3 of 4 with Mr Pierre taking a day off.

Thanks DodgerBoy. Phew is a waste. There’s no excuse for getting picked off 2nd. And by a left hander who has his back to him. That just killed our momentum right out of the gate. It would be great if they benched the little piece of …….

Pierre being picked off second base last night with no outs in the first inning was HUGE. Without that, the Dodgers would have scored at least one run in the first inning and maybe more. It could have turned the game around. If Ethier or Kemp did that they would likely be benched the next day. But when Pierre does it, nothing happens. So much for needing his speed. Sorry, but that argument doesn’t work. We have a greater need for power, and that doesn’t translate into playing Pierre regardless on how Torre tries to justify it.

dodgereric, just so you know…”Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was voted best song of the 20th century. Yours may be of the most poignant of the 21st.

If I may weigh in on the on-going, never-ending Pierre debate. Fact: the Dodgers are committed to youth and the future, in case somebody missed it. That youth and that future, in my humble opinion, does NOT include Pierre, regardless of his speed, workaholic mentality or what have you. As I said before (and Nike said before me) with regards to going full bore with the kids, “Just do it.” Let’s get it done, quit messing around, stop with the passive vision. Jettison the vets, supply some nice parting gifts, and play the kids. ALL of them. We’re 2 games under .500 doing it half-a** backwards anyway. I’d rather see Pierre’s ABs go to Young and Repko. We need to find out about them THIS SEASON.

I’m telling you, watch Pierre when he (manages to) get on base against a lefty. He has trouble reading them. I’d love to find a split somewhere that breaks that down so that I’d know if it’s fact or my vivid imagination.

What do you think the future is for LaRoche. He’s started playing a little bit at second base. From what I hear he’s absolutely terrible so far, granted it has only been a few games (Rick Ankiel learned how to play center field after all). He’s not happy with it either. He feels like the organization is screwing with him. Which leads me to something else, Torre’s not well liked in the clubhouse. It’s all gossip of course, but gossip from people who are on the field with these guys. I was surprised to hear that some of the players think that Torre’s two-faced and a liar. Take it with a grain of salt.

I think he’s incongruent and a two faced kiss a** that talks out of both sides of his mouth. He’s just a wishy washy Ned pawn. Like I’ve stated before, Ned and Joe don’t have one testicle between them. So far it would appear the same can be said of brain cells.

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